India Under-19s 4-227 (Unmukt Chand 111*, Smit Patel 62, Joel Paris 1-33) beat Australia Under-19s 8-225 (William Bosisto 87*, Ashton Turner 43, Sandeep Sharma 4-54)

The India Under-19s captain, Unmukt Chand, led his team from the front and smashed a ton as they won the ICC Under-19 World Cup while beating Australia-Under 19s.

Unmukt Chand (India Under-19s) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his match winning knock of unbeaten 111 runs.

The Australia Under-19s skipper, William Bosisto, was declared ‘Player of the series’ after he hammered 276 runs at a super average of 276.00, the best of unbeaten 87* in the final with two fifties.

Australia Under-19s scored a reasonable 225 runs with two wickets in hand in the allotted 50 overs. The Indian Under-19s were reeling at 4-97 in 24.2 overs when an unbeaten 130 runs fifth wicket partnership between the skipper, Unmukt Chand and Smit Patel saw them through to the victory.

The ICC Under-19 World Cup – Final was played on Sunday, August 26, 2012, at Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville.

Earlier, Unmukt Chand won the toss and opted to chase while offering the batting to the rival team. The decision paid off instantly as their fast bowler, Sandeep Sharma, removed both openers of Australia Under-19s. The home side was in dire trouble after losing their four top order batsmen for 38 mere runs in 11.2 overs when William Bosisto and Travis Head stopped the invasion of the rival bowling.

The duo started building the innings as Head was the most attacking of the two and got four boundaries in five overs. Bosisto secured his end and took his score to 23 in 56 balls after 29 overs as the first hundred of the innings was attained. The batsmen were creeping well when Travis Head was unluckily run out for 37 on the first ball of the next over as Ashton Turner walked in the centre.

The run rate was enhanced from the 35^th over as nine runs were scored with a couple of fours. Turner opened up by scoring 11 runs in the 37^th over with two fours and William Bosisto achieved his fifty on the first ball of the 43^rd over. They scored 13 runs on the first five balls of the 46^th over off  Sandep Sharma with one six and one four but Ashton Turner was caught by Chand on the last ball for 43 scored from 50 balls with 1 six and 3 fours.

William Bosisto remained unbeaten for 87 off 120 balls with 6 fours as Australia Under-19s scored 225 runs with two wickets in hand at the end of the 50^th over.

Sandeep Sharma was the star performer with four wickets whereas Ravikant Singh and Baba Aparajith claimed one wicket each.

India Under-19s faced an early blow when their first wicket fell at just two runs as Aparajith joined in with Unmukt Chand. The first opened his arms with two fours in the fifth over and produced the same result two overs later. Chand joined in the race by gathering 10 runs in the 9^th over with one six and one four as the runs rate was speeded up. The score was taken to 75 when Baba Aparajith was caught by Ashton Turner on the bowling of Gurinder Sandhu for 33 off 38 deliveries with 5 fours.

The Australia Under-19s bowlers got two more wickets quickly and put the visitors in trouble at 4-97 in 24.2 overs. Smit Patel joined in next with the skipper, Chand, who was fighting well for 50 at the other end in the critical situation. Patel got a life when he was dropped by Jimmy Peirson off Mark Steketee at two runs on the last ball of the 26^th over. The duo never looked back from there and continued escalating the score while keeping the required run rate under check.

The poor ground fielding of Australia Under-19s continued when Unmukt Chand was dropped by Bosisto off Alex Gregory on the second ball of the 44^th over at 84 runs. Chand thrashed his ton in style by dispatching a huge six on the last ball of the 46^th over and 200 of the innings also appeared on board. The target was achieved on the fourth delivery of the 48^th over when Patel sent the ball reeling over the midwicket fence. The score reached 227 for the loss of just four wickets with 14 balls to spare. Joel Paris, Mark Steketee, Gurinder Sandhu and Ashton Turner were the successful bowlers with one wicket each.

India Under-19s put another feather in the national cricket by grabbing the ICC Under-19 World Cup, 2012. It was the third time they won the coveted Cup after winning it in 2000 and 2008 respectively and stand on top with Australia Uner-19s who has pocketed the trophy thrice since its inception in 1988.